The key to European car sharing

Launched in October 2017 and standing forShared mobility opporTunities And challenges foR European citieS, STARS aims to explore the diffusion of car sharing in Europe, its connections with technological and social innovations, as well as its impact on other transport modes (private car, bike, walk, taxi, public transport…).

A unique co-modality approach

Studying the implications and impacts of car sharing, rather than focusing exclusively on the implementation of the system itself, is a new approach that is being carried out in STARS.

A co-modality approach will be defined in the project, setting the optimal combination between carsharing use and other modes of transportation. Users’ attitudes and behaviours will also be taken into consideration. The objective of the project is to measure the benefits related to the diffusion of different car sharing services, in addition to comparing their costs.

Providing a policy toolkit

Based on this co-modality approach, a policy toolkit will be designed to provide European mobility stakeholders and policymakers with a support tool based on the results stemming from STARS. It will include guidelines and recommendations to help them make the right decisions and develop the best strategies for environment-friendly and cost-effective car sharing services in European cities. In addition, it will provide “what-if scenarios”, practical examples and detailed parameters: types of mobility services to promote, business opportunities for economic actors, estimation of the market’s size, sociodemographic factors such as gender, age…This information is foreseen to be used as input and feed into the European Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs).

Impacts

Project organisation

Related projects

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A European car sharing community

A “Car sharing Innovation Camp” isscheduled to take place during the last six months of the project. During 2 days, policymakers, city representatives who have implemented successful and less successful car sharing systems and other actors will work together on solving specific challenges related to mobility. The policy toolkit will be tested during the event, and knowledge and new perspectives acquired during the project will be shared. One of the main objectives of this camp is to build ties and create a strong car sharing community in Europe.

High speed for innovative technology

STARS covers the emergence of new technological and social innovations (including applications for smartphones and autonomous mobility). Today they are blurring the limits between private and public transport, changing individual habits, lifestyles and behaviours while shaping the future transport models and management.

Taking into account energy savings (electric mobility), prices, and environmental and social considerations, which are creating new travel preferences and needs, STARS will look into how innovation can boost mobility as a service.

Watch video presenting STARS

A car sharing expert consortium

During 30 months, STARS will bring together experts in the fields of transport engineering, environmental psychology, and industrial economics.

This multidisciplinary consortium also gathers car sharing providers and partners from the automotive sector. This allows to measure the direct and indirect impacts on the car industry, and forecast the industrial and economic opportunities that can be generated through the diffusion of car sharing.

Moreover, the project will benefit from the partners’ strong past and ongoing research experience:

From 2001-2004, the City of Bremen worked on the MOSES project (“Mobility services for urban sustainability”).

In 2009, the City of Bremen coordinated the EU project called MOMO Car-Sharing, with the participation of the car sharing industry association bcs.

ICLEI and Polito are involved in the ongoing H2020 projects SUMS-UP and SUITS, respectively, which are part of the European Union’s CIVITAS 2020 initiative.

In Gothenburg (Sweden), UbiGo is a service combining car sharing and other travel modes.